Lots of walking this past week, not always by choice. One of my biggest concerns when coming to Brisbane was the reliability and coverage of its public transportation system. In general, Asians do this kind of thing really well, mainly out of necessity. When millions of people are packed into a space meant for just a few hundred thousand at most, you figure out how to move all those bodies around in a disorderly, orderly fashion.
Well, it turns out that for a city this small, Brisbane's buses, trains, and ferries do a pretty damn good job of getting you nearly anywhere you need to go.
Up to a point.
The downtown area here is quite small, and once you venture outside of it, the region's layout gets very suburban -- fast. The advantage of this for people like Barry and Kay, who we've been staying with the last few days, is you can own a nice, big home and have a garden and a yard and your own little piece of heaven. The disadvantage is that to go most places without needing a change of clothes afterwards, you need a car.
I take that back. You don't need one. It is perfectly reasonable to lug a vacuum cleaner, brand new and in the box, out of the local shopping mall and bring it on the bus with you. The box, of course, gets a seat, too. But you don't see that kind of thing often, and I'm pretty sure it looks a little weird. We did exactly this today and while walking from the bus stop with this giant box in my arms, two of Barry and Kay's neighbors looked at me askance, as if to say, "Who are you... and where are you taking that -- thing?" (In all honesty, they were really nice, but I'm pretty sure they'd never seen a Yankee carrying a giant box around this neighborhood before.)
The fact is there is a lot of space here and to get around easily, a car really is best. Which is too bad because I liked not having a car for the last few years. It's interesting, too, that the way you get around makes a huge impact on the way you view your surroundings. When you can hop in your Holden (Aussie car company) and hop out at the mall that's just a couple kilometers away, it seems really close by. But it's a completely different story when you're trudging over to the mall underneath the blazing, midday sun. Now expand this idea out to a place that's an hour's drive away, and your sense of space changes fast. The phrase "nearby" means something completely different when your primary mode of transport is walking.
Luckily, the buses here run on time. Usually to the minute. They aren't nearly as frequent as they were in Seoul, and the network is not as convenient, but it ain't too shabby for a city of this size. And it still puts the CTA to shame (for shame!). Now if only we can figure out a way to get to the beach...
Well, it turns out that for a city this small, Brisbane's buses, trains, and ferries do a pretty damn good job of getting you nearly anywhere you need to go.
Up to a point.
The downtown area here is quite small, and once you venture outside of it, the region's layout gets very suburban -- fast. The advantage of this for people like Barry and Kay, who we've been staying with the last few days, is you can own a nice, big home and have a garden and a yard and your own little piece of heaven. The disadvantage is that to go most places without needing a change of clothes afterwards, you need a car.
I take that back. You don't need one. It is perfectly reasonable to lug a vacuum cleaner, brand new and in the box, out of the local shopping mall and bring it on the bus with you. The box, of course, gets a seat, too. But you don't see that kind of thing often, and I'm pretty sure it looks a little weird. We did exactly this today and while walking from the bus stop with this giant box in my arms, two of Barry and Kay's neighbors looked at me askance, as if to say, "Who are you... and where are you taking that -- thing?" (In all honesty, they were really nice, but I'm pretty sure they'd never seen a Yankee carrying a giant box around this neighborhood before.)
The fact is there is a lot of space here and to get around easily, a car really is best. Which is too bad because I liked not having a car for the last few years. It's interesting, too, that the way you get around makes a huge impact on the way you view your surroundings. When you can hop in your Holden (Aussie car company) and hop out at the mall that's just a couple kilometers away, it seems really close by. But it's a completely different story when you're trudging over to the mall underneath the blazing, midday sun. Now expand this idea out to a place that's an hour's drive away, and your sense of space changes fast. The phrase "nearby" means something completely different when your primary mode of transport is walking.
Luckily, the buses here run on time. Usually to the minute. They aren't nearly as frequent as they were in Seoul, and the network is not as convenient, but it ain't too shabby for a city of this size. And it still puts the CTA to shame (for shame!). Now if only we can figure out a way to get to the beach...
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